Tuesday, 23 September 2014

We are now nearing the end of our Open Studios, although we still have this Friday and Saturday afternoons to go (1pm – 4.30pm) at Artscape, so there is still a chance to catch us there.

It’s been great fun this year. A lot of you will have seen me throwing colour at soaked paper and splidging and splodging the watercolour around to create a set of Drummers. It was one of those ideas that just popped into my head from nowhere when we started the demos and I’ve loved painting them. I’ve tried to give them organic curvy, pebbly shapes and they seem very earthy to me, as though they have grown out of the ground. I wanted them to feel ancient and young at the same time. The drums are actually the moon, though the shadings are so subtle it’s not easy to see the familiar markings. I’ve also tried to give them a sense of movement – not so much moving around (although one is dancing) but vibration. I’ve posted three here and I’ll be working on the fourth one on Friday! I see a set of cards in the future :-). They’ve been a great way to demonstrate the joys of wet-in-wet watercolour and the way the hues can flow and merge.

Sunday, 7 September 2014

Open Studios is now officially open - we had a lovely Open Evening on Friday night and lots of visitors at our first day of demonstrations at Artscape yesterday. Thanks to all of you who came and supported us! We have many more open days to come (see calendar below), with a marathon open day on Thursday where we'll be there from 1pm to 8pm. We will also have wine, soft drinks and nibbles on Thursday to keep us..... er.... I mean you going. We'll be splashing paint around, or, in Hillary's case, maybe bringing artistic order out of chaos from a pile of shredded newspapers.

Pauline Ashley, Teresa and Hillary Taylor

And I have new cards of the paintings below, which are proving very popular so I've been very busy making more of them (including a lovely leaping hare, not pictured):

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

This year Open Studios in Harpenden has been boosted by a new Harpenden Art Trailleaflet, put together by fellow Artscape Arts artist Hillary Taylor,that takes you around all the studios and exhibitions in the Harpenden area throughout September. This supplements the usual Open Studios Brochure for the whole of Hertfordshire and has a local focus. The PDF version has clickable links to maps and studios locations! Downloadable PDF of the Map.

'With a local focus, visiting studios in and around Harpenden has just got even easier with the release this week of the Harpenden and District Art Trail. This handy leaflet, the size of a takeaway menu, has all the essential information needed to help visitors plan their visits and get around studios in Harpenden, Redbourn and Kimpton. The simplified map, surrounded by sample artwork, indicates where studios and other art displays can be found. In addition, at-a-glance summaries identify studios open on any particular day, contact information and also highlight where visitors can find particular art forms.

For the increasing numbers armed with smartphones or tablets, the trail can be downloaded as a pdf from Herts Visual Arts and a number of other locations. This pdf contains clickable links to further brochure information and artist web sites. With a car essential for travelling between many studios, perhaps the most important component of the trail map are links that click through to on-line maps for ease of navigation. The trail is also available (without the clickable links) as a jpg for social media and more.'

Visit the HVA Website for further information about Open Studios in Harpenden. You will also find regular upates on the Harpenden arts scene by following The Harpenden Art Hub on Facebook: